The Ozploitation film follows Howard (Ben O’Toole), a put upon sanitation worker who discovers that he is actually a powerful Necromancer – the last line of defense in a never-ending battle against demons. The convoluted history (and foundation for the film’s hilariously ridiculous premise) is conveyed in a cute animated sequence that opens the film, laying out the rules for possession and how the internet has changed the rules of the game.

Yes, folks “the internet” is a huge part of the demon plot.

If you can’t get on board with that sentence, Nekrotronic probably isn’t for you. This is a film that wears its penchant for dumb jokes and physical comedy on its sleeve (Howard is literally covered in a geyser of shit in his introductory scene). At times the sheer stupidity of the character and his best friend Rangi (Epine Bob Savea) can get tiring, but it’s also a big part of the film’s charm.

The plot itself is beyond silly: Finnegan (Monica Bellucci, hamming it up accordingly), the Queen of the Demons, has concocted a convoluted plan involving a Pokémon-like phone game that will allow her to consume approximately 1.3 million souls once her wraiths have set up a network of Nekropod power boxes in a pentagram around the city. See? Silly.

On the day of her plans, Rangi accidentally activates Howard’s latent Necromancer powers. His sudden reveal throws both sides into disarray, but after a run-in with Finnegan, Howard ultimately decides to side with sisters Molly (Caroline Ford) and Torquel (Tess Haubrich) to help stop the apocalypse and save humanity. Family secrets, zombified talking heads and 3D printed demons ensue.

O’Toole is solid in the zero to hero role and he has great rapport with Savea, even if the latter has virtually nothing to do in the film outside of comic relief. Faring better in both characterization and contributions to the plot are the sisters, who have a believably familial friction that masks their affection for each other. Technically speaking, the film boasts a plethora of special effects to showcase everything from possessions to the way a soul travels along through the internet. The results fall somewhere between Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners and the childish goofiness of the Goosebump films. Fans of Ghostbusters, The Matrix, The Evil Dead and Re-Animator will likely get a chuckle from the bevy of homages.

Where the film falters, or the component that most dampens its enthusiastically juvenile appeal, is the formulaic plot. Bellucci is a campy villain and her internet domination plans are beyond silly, but the accidental white hetero saviour who swoops in the save the day (at the expense of the far more qualified female protagonists no less) is at best too familiar and at worst frustratingly reductive. We’ve seen this plot a million times and Nekrotronic brings absolutely nothing new to the table.

Is it pleasurable to watch if you’re 16, high or both? Sure. The Roache-Turner brothers clearly have the talent and the love of filmmaking on their sides. Here’s hoping that in the future they go beyond simply paying homage to the films of their childhood and try their hands at fresher, less explored terrain.

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I’m happy anytime any film is announced for Blu-ray because the more films that can be converted to a physical media form, the better. And if that movie happens to be an awesome Ozploitation movie, then cheers all around! Fair Game is most certainly awesome and don’t take my word for it, watch this awesome trailer with Quentin Tarantino sharing his thoughts on this wonderful film!

Jessica (Cassandra Delaney) is young woman who runs a wildlife sanctuary in the Australian outback. She is in for a world of trouble when three bored kangaroo hunters, Sunny (Peter Ford), Sparks (Garry Who) and Ringo (David Sandford) turn their sites on the animals in her sanctuary. When they see how attractive the owner is, they decide to have a little “fun” with her, too… but they get more than they bargained for as Jessica fights back.

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The wonderful John Jarratt stars as Steve Harris, an Australian park ranger tasked with maintaining Australia’s crocodile population. Basically he’s a wildlife conservationist and he’s specifically looking out for the crocodiles. They’re magnificent creatures that have been around centuries dating back to the dinosaurs, hence the film’s title, but in just 200 years man has pushed them to the brink of extinction. Steve wants to see to it that crocodiles are protected and continue thrive and live for countless centuries to come.

One evening a trio of poachers are out hunting crocodiles when they come across a massive 25 foot beast unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. Being that they are gross poachers they are determined to kill the croc and take its head as a trophy. Unfortunately for them this croc is no pushover and kills two of them. The surviving poacher, an awful man named John Besser (Max Phipps), wants the crocodile dead and city officials, including Steve’s boss, are in agreement that the giant croc must die.

Steve doesn’t want to kill the crocodile, which makes sense because as mentioned he is an animal conservationist, so he sets out to find the crocodile. Unfortunately Steve isn’t able to find the crocodile before it kills again. This time the prey is a small little boy and the crocodile eats him in a scene that is shockingly gruesome. Now three people have been killed and government officials aren’t messing around — this killer croc must be stopped! A price is put on the croc’s head in an effort to have it killed before it kills again. With a number of shady poachers now hoping to claim a quick buck, Steve must race to save the crocodile and move it to a safe sanctuary.

There are a couple of reasons why Steve doesn’t want to kill the animal. Crocodiles have been around for thousands of years, long before people arrived, so it’s the responsibility of humans to learn to live with crocs, not the other way around. Plus the croc only killed the first time in defense. The child’s death is hard to overcome, but Steve is informed by Oondabund (Burnam Burnam), an Aboriginal Australian, that the crocodile only killed the small child because he was very sick. Oondabund also informs Steve that this particular crocodile is very important to the Aboriginals because it contains the spirit of their past. Steve, with the help of Oondabund and Oondabund’s son Adjaral (David Gulpilil), must find the croc before the poachers do.

Dark Age is fascinating for a lot of reasons. On the surface it’s basically Jaws but with a crocodile, which is a pretty good premise. It’s a violent, gory and sometimes shocking B-movie. All of that is just at the surface level. Once you dig deeper you find the film has a lot of layers. This is something I’ve found to be true of a lot of Ozploitation over the years. These films aren’t just gory genre cinema, they’re often times a social commentary and Dark Age is no different.

A couple of things I picked up on right away. The film touches on man’s relationship with the environment. We treat animals like they’re a problem when we encroached on them. Of course animals are going to fight back, we’ve taken their homes. Steve talks about this very point when asked by his boss why he wants to save the crocodiles. It’s important to respect nature because if we don’t nature will bite back.

The film also touches on the relationship between the Aboriginal Australians and the white settlers who have now taken over. The Aboriginals respect the animals and nature and this is a big theme throughout the entire movie. Oondabund talks about how the crocodile won’t hurt Aboriginals because they have learned to live with one another and have developed a mutual respect. The crocodile doesn’t know have that same respect for the white man. Oondabund does point out that Steve is the exception. At one point Oondabund states that the crocodile will not hurt Steve because Steve is good to the Aboriginals.

There is this wonderful moment in the film where Steve is arguing with his boss about why they can’t kill the croc. One of Steve’s main points is that it means too much to the Aboriginals. Steve’s boss responds to this by saying you can’t go anywhere without “some black” saying you’re on sacred ground. It’s such a casually delivered but highly important line. Not only is it extremely racist, just hearing the phrasing “some black” strikes a chord, but it let’s you know how little respect the white men have for Aboriginals.

The special features get into the social aspects of the film a lot more. There is a great panel discussion between four Australian film critics and they really get into the heart of the matter. One of the things they discuss that I didn’t know is this film was released around the time Australia was celebrating its bicentennial. According to these critics there was a lot of talk during that time about how Aboriginals wouldn’t be around much longer so their culture and tradition wasn’t viewed as important. It’s really fascinating as an outsider that doesn’t know a lot about Australia and wasn’t aware of any of this. It’s amazing how a movie about a giant crocodile can be so socially aware and teach you something.

The Blu-ray has a number of other great special features to go with the panel discussion. There is an extended interview from Not Quite Hollywood with Jarratt discussing Dark Age. Jarratt gets into the film quite a bit and talks about how during filming he kept begging the director to do the film as a comedy because he thought the whole thing was absurd and figured the movie would be terrible. There is also an audio commentary with Jarratt, a little documentary on crocodiles, various trailers and more.

Dark Age is a wonderful film that has a bit of everything. It’s an adventure movie inside a creature feature — with an animatronic crocodile by the way — that is also very socially aware. Now the film is finally available on a great Blu-ray thanks to Umbrella Entertainment. It’s loaded with special features and the picture quality is superb. I love the movie and the Blu-ray is one of the year’s best. I cannot recommend this one enough.

Dark Age is available on region free Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment.

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Wolf Creek stars Lucy Fry as Eve Thorogood, a young american tourist travelling through Outback with her family in an attempt to deal with her own personal demons. The Thorogood clan eventually stumbles upon a stranger in the wilderness, who initially appears to be a decent fellow. Unfortunately for them, the stranger is actually the sadistic serial killer Mick Taylor, played by the always-excellent John Jarratt. After Taylor reveals his true nature, Eve remains as the sole survivor of a horrific mass murder. However, with the reluctant help of Police Detective Sullivan Hill, played by Dustin Clare, Eve decides to remain in Australia and embarks on an ill-advised quest to avenge the death of her family.

On the surface, it may feel as if this isn’t enough plot to carry a 6-episode season of television, but Wolf Creek has several unexpected narrative tricks up its sleeve. From the complexity of character interaction and development to a grueling look at a young woman’s attempts to survive in an oppresive, male-dominated landscape, this series certainly takes the road less travelled where horror sequels are concerned. Thoughtful story and wonderfully developed characters aside, the cinematography here is also breathtaking, blurring the lines between Film and Television production value. Despite all odds, Wolf Creek feels like a genuine sequel and worthy successor of the films, with almost nothing lost in translation during the switch in medium.

Although the story does take some questionable detours near the end of the season, especially concerning Taylor’s backstory, the additional runtime allows for some incredible world-building as Eve travels Down Under in a seemingly hopeless game of cat and mouse. We end up seeing both perspectives, as Mick has a plan of his own once he realizes that someone is onto his murderous ways, leading to a genuinely thrilling conclusion as these two characters that we know and love (for vastly different reasons) finally face each other in one of the most cathartic showdowns in television history.

Even with the surprisingly cerebral story, it’s the details that make Wolf Creek stand apart from the competition. There’s an almost ethereal beauty to the way that the Outback is portrayed in this show, and it sometimes feels as though both protagonist and antagonist are dealing with forces far beyond their comprehension. Eve’s journey from victim to hardened survivor is also a joy to behold, and a far cry from the usual damsels in distress that populate horror media. There’s an almost mythical scope to the story as these two seemingly unstoppable forces of nature slowly approach one another, adapting to survive.

Much of what makes Wolf Creek so successful can be traced to Fry and Jarratt’s amazing performances. While they don’t necessarily share a lot of screentime together during the majority of the show, the actors have a compelling connection even when their characters are on opposite ends of the country. We’ve already seen John play Mick twice before, so I was already expecting his terrifying charms, but Lucy’s performance was a pleasant surprise, which helped to elevate an already great horror story. In fact, it was only after watching a few interviews that I realized that she’s not even really American, and was holding back her natural Aussie accent.

Ultimately, it’s hard to think of any horror-hound who wouldn’t enjoy the peculiar thrills of this unexpectedly great TV series. There may be a few flaws here and there, especially in trying to flesh out a character whose anonymity is precisely what makes him so terrifying in the first place, but the show almost immediately makes up for these blunders when they occur. From Lisa Salvo’s hauntingly beautiful rendition of Who Killed Cock Robin in the opening credits, to stunning shots of some of the most hostile environments known to man, there is certainly a lot to love about Wolf Creek!

The season finale of Wolf Creek premieres this Friday, November 18th, on Pop at 10:00PM, ET/PT!

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Body Melt is the story of a small community called Pebbles Court whose residents are unknowingly being treated as test subjects for a new dietary pill. Pebbles Court is like your typical cookie cutter suburb. All the houses look the same and there is just a general fakeness to everything. The people are all kind of vain and so when free pills arrive in their mailbox promoting the ultimate healthy lifestyle they eagerly take them without hesitation. Unfortunately for the residents of Pebbles Court these pills come with some truly awful side effects.

The idea of the pill, I think, is to help you lose weight and in a way that’s what it does. But in losing weight it first causes hallucinations followed by mutations. So those that use it do lose weight, but it’s in the form of their skin melting off. And that’s with the lucky ones! One unfortunate chap has his penis enlarge (not so bad) until he gets the point of exploding and kill him (not so great). Some folks have tentacles come out of their mouth which is never fun. And let’s not forget the imploding heads. Basically, things get pretty messy in Pebbles Court.

The film was directed by Philip Brophy off a script he co-wrote with Rod Bishop. Both Brophy and Bishop were members of the Australian experimental band → ↑ →. I feel like when you’re dealing with a couple of dudes that named their band → ↑ → that you kind of know you’re going to be in for something very weird. Body Melt is definitely weird. It has that slapstick gore that Sam Raimi and early Peter Jackson had perfected with maybe a hint of David Cronenberg. It’s definitely never not interesting.

The film is a satire of extremely healthy living. It kind of makes fun of the stuff like those GNC shops and the people that shop there. I don’t know if this stuff was super popular in the 90’s in Australia, but I’m going to guess that it was which is probably how this film came about. I feel like stateside I remember seeing these stores all over the place and inside shopping malls and such. I don’t think you see them as much now or maybe I don’t notice them. But just because these health supplement stores may not be around as much, I think the satire still holds up. We’ve just moved on to a new health craze. And we’ll probably continue to move from one craze to another so in that way Body Melt will always be relevant. That’s not to say the movie isn’t dated with a 90’s feel. It very much is, but I loved the 90’s so I don’t mind.

Body Melt is currently available on DVD from Australia’s Umbrella Entertainment. Don’t let the Australia part worry you too much because this is region free, so wherever you are in the world you should be able to watch this. I did so on a standard American Blu-ray player without any issues. This is a DVD so don’t expect an HD picture or anything, but this still looks very good. This is a pretty bright film with a lot of colors and practical effects and they all look just fine here. There’s not a lot in the way of special features but you do get the trailer for the film and a behind-the-scenes featurette with cast and crew.

Body Melt is a great party film. Pop this one with some friends, order a pizza and sit back and enjoy a slapstick splatter fest!

Body Melt is currently available on DVD from Umbrella Entertainment.

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Luckily Australia’s Umbrella Entertainment is about to change that as they are set to release Road Games on Blu-ray for the first-time ever. And when I say first-time ever, I mean it. This film has yet to see a Blu-ray release anywhere. No official release date yet, but it is scheduled for this summer.

Fantastic news, right? We’re barely hitting mid-April and we’ve already had quite a number of films be announced to make Blu-ray debuts later this year. Physical media is very much alive and well, my friends!

Will the release be region B? I don’t know yet, but it’s safe to assume it will be. There is hope, however, as Australian releases aren’t always region locked. Even if it is region locked, it’s cheaper to buy a region free Blu-ray player than it is to by the OOP DVD of Road Games.

Synopsis:
A truck driver plays a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious serial killer who uses a young female hitchhiker as bait to lure victims on a desolate Australian highway.

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Guy’s Trade stars Guy Williams as a vampire hunter in an alternate version of modern day Australia. Here, vampires have become an urban nuisance, and the government encourages citizens to take up arms agains the undead menace. When a documentary film crew is allowed to follow Guy around, they attempt to chronicle his hunts, motivation and views on the morality of hunting what used to be human beings.

Although it’s apparent from the beginning that this isn’t a special effects extravaganza with a huge budget, the faux-documentary aspect actually helps sell the dark world that Huddy has created, with an added layer of realism that helps to maintain the suspension of disbelief. However, the direction does make good use of the limited budget, blending practical and digital effects almost seamlessly, in a character-based experience. Williams is fantastic in his role, with a backstory that could easily be expanded in a possible feature film.

That being said, the vampires themselves aren’t all that frightening, with exaggerated make up that doesn’t quite sell their intended corpselike nature. The CGI used to transform them is also spotty at times, but Huddy’s decision to show only enough so that the viewer can understand what’s going on saves these scenes from mediocrity, keeping the film brief but intense. It’s easy to forgive technical flaws with this kind of budget, but hopefully, a future adaptation/expansion of this story will address these issues.

There’s a lot to love about Guy’s Trade, despite some minor technical gripes. The story is fortunately heavy on character and knows when not to focus on the action, instead of selling itself as a blockbuster trailer for a possible future movie. Lechlan Huddy’s vampire infested world does seem like a good place to start a larger franchise, but the short itself is worth a watch, regardless. If you’re a fan of vampires, mockumentaries or Australian horror in general, you’ll almost certainly enjoy this seven-minute thriller.

You can watch Guy’s Trade at the top of the article!

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In the sleepy little suburb of Galesburg, Illinois, a series of stabbings has police chief John Brady baffled. While he tries to get to the bottom of the murders, his son Pete volunteers for a paid psychological experiment at his college. Pete’s not really sure what the hell the experiment is about, all he’s knows is that he gets $100 each time he shows up. For a kid dreaming of life beyond the sticks, that’s a nice chunk of change for the moving fund.

After his first session at the lab, Pete is feeling so good he asks out the receptionist Caroline (Dey Young from Rock ‘n’ Roll High School). As romance blooms between those two, John Brady realizes he may have a personal connection to the killings. In between heavy swigs of Budweiser, he notices that the corpses are pointing to the work of notorious scientist Dr. Le Sange, who Brady blames for the death of his wife. The only hitch is that Le Sange died years ago. OR DID HE?!?!

For an ’80s horror film, Dead Kids is very slow paced. I typically enjoy a slow burn, but there needs to be interesting characters to fill it out. The players here aren’t particularly engaging, though they have a really strong communal vibe going on. John and Pete Brady (Michael Murphy and Dan Shor) have a believable father-son relationship – one that’s haunted by the death of Mrs. Brady. John finds a love interest in Barbara (Louise Fletcher), a woman who wishes he would move on from his troubled past. There’s also Peter’s best bud Oliver and John’s assistant at the police station (played by prolific character Charles Lane). All these characters make up a solid rural community that’s the perfect stage for a bizarro serial killer mind control slasher.

The killings are done very well, with help from makeup effects by Craig Reardon (Poltergeist and a million other awesome movies). In the wake of popular slashers like Friday the 13th, it would’ve been easy (and safe) to simply one-up the gore and sensationalism. Dead Kids‘ murders contain a bit more panache though. Something as simple as a stabbing or as disturbing as a human scarecrow with its eyes gouged out are treated with equal amounts of delicacy. The deaths really get under your skin rather than try to gross you out.

While the butchery is all well and good, my favorite scene involves a failed murder attempt. The killer, wearing a Tor Jonson (Plan 9) mask, chases a girl from the woods to a house party. The revelry inside drowns out her screams as the killer tries to stab her in a pool. The killer waves his knife around as he tries to stab her like 1,000 times, making him look totally inept. He looks really disinterested in actually killing her too, but it’s still a fantastic scene, one that follows up a kick ass costume party dance number scored to Lou Christie’s “Lightin’ Strikes” no less. It’s so ridiculous, I love it.

Dead Kids ends on a surprisingly happy note for an ’80s slasher. There’s none of the cynicism that’s found in many of the genre entries of the time, just another reason its an oddity. A lot of people may be turned off by the languid pacing and overly-serious tone, so it’s probably wise to rent it first.

A/V:

I’ve never seen the previous DVD releases of Dead Kids from Elite and Synapse, but I’m going to assume they don’t look as good as Severin’s Blu-ray release. It was sourced from the original camera negative, which sports a really drab color palette. There’s minimum damage to the picture and the transfer looks pretty damn clear, though there are random soft spots peppered throughout. The mono track sounds fine, with lots of nice ambiance from Tangerine Dream’s original score.

Special Features:

Severin has included two commentary tracks. The one featuring co-writer Bill Condon and actors Dan Shor and Dey Young was previously on the DVD releases and is a real lively track that covers a lot of fun tidbits of information. This is the one to listen to if you only have the patience for one commentary track. The other track is a new one featuring director Michael Laughlin. His is a much more dull commentary, covering the regular string of behind the scenes info.

Another new feature is a 20 minute look at the film’s effects with Craig Reardon. This is a great interview and really shows how everything was really thrown together last minute for the film. Reardon had to make up a lotta shit as he went along. Reardon also goes into his post-Dead Kids career. It’s a really impressive look at a really talented guy.

Rounding out the disc is an isolated score track if you’re really in the mood for some Tangerine Dream and a couple trailers.

The post [BD Review] ‘Dead Kids’ Is a Mind Controlling Teen Slasher Blast appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

We have (2) two sets of all four to give away – but that’s not all! The two lucky winners will also receive a Dead Kids sleeve signed by Academy Award winning writer Bill Condon (Chicago, Gods and Monsters), producer Antony Ginnane (Patrick, Turkey Shoot) and FX artist Craig Reardon (Poltergeist, The Gate, Goonies).

TO ENTER: Put SEVERIN PRIZE PACK in the subject line and then send your FULL NAME and ADDRESS to submit@bloody-disgusting.com. Winners must live in the U.S. No Po Boxes. Winners chosen at random.

For more info follow Severin Films on Facebook.

PATRICK – Richard (PSYCHO 2, ROAD GAMES) Franklin’s original masterpiece, complete with exclusive new extras including an original on-set interview with Franklin, extended NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD interviews with Franklin, stars Susan Penhalogon and Rod Mullinar and screenwriter Everett De Roche, as well as the rare Italian track featuring an amazing score by Goblin.

DEAD KIDS aka STRANGE BEHAVIOR – The most bizarre slasher set in small town Illinois but filmed in New Zealand and produced by an Aussie with an all-star cast, directed by the producer of TWO LANE BLACKTOP, co-written by the Oscar-winning director of GODS AND MONSTERS, with FX by the guy behind THE FUNHOUSE, THE GOONIES, THE GATE and POLTERGEIST. Includes two commentaries and an all-new featurette with aforementioned practical FX guru Craig Reardon.

THIRST – Rod Hardy’s modern twist on the vampire legend starring David Hemmings (DEEP RED) and Henry Silva (THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE).

OZPLOITATION TRAILER EXPLOSION – 65 incredible Ozploitation trailers of Ockers/softcore sex films, horror and action movies from down under.

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A powerful storm leaves several locals and tourists trapped in a roadside cafe. These storms back a mother and son into a corner as they try to flee their gambling, boozing patriarch who’s recently been released from the pen. Then an alleged cop shows up looking for the father and all hell breaks loose. But not everything is as it seems and the audiences’ loyalty is challenged throughout the film.

Over the course of its 90 minutes, a litany of hard revelations are violently confronted and put to death. It does a great job of putting the audience in a comfortable place, then it rips the carpet out from under ya. There’s big rig action, adept female bartenders, and heaps of outback creepiness. Think Nicolas Roeg meets Eli Roth – in the best way possible.

It’s also dark as hell. Most of the film takes place at night, making it inherently dark. But content-wise the film dips into some genuinely bleak territory. The theme of revenge is popular as shit in American films, so when it’s done in an original manner, like here, it’s truly something to witness.

Recently, the Aussie film industry has been on the cusp of breaking through internationally like it did during the grimy and glorious Ozploitation years of the 1980s. Films like Animal Kingdom, Wolf Creek, and Snowtown have shed light on the darker side of the island, and have been embraced by most film critics around the globe. Shit, what’s stopping this place? Savages Crossing proves again that even with a lower than low-budget, Aussie filmmakers are ready to kick the world’s ass.

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